[484 words]
A storm spells trouble if you work outside. But not for God. He is the Master of bringing good out of chaos. The first book of the Bible shows that the conflict and confusion we cause cannot hinder Him.
We talk about family troubles today. But this is as old as mankind. The first home had strife. Cain killed his brother out of envy and spite (Gen. 4:1-10). What good could possibly come from this tragedy? Abel obeyed God but the Bible does not record one word he said. That may not seem fair since it devotes several verses to what his jealous brother said. Yet we find these remarkable words in Hebrews 11:4: “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.” God and good had the last word.
Abraham’s workers and his nephew Lot’s herdsmen had a disagreement in Genesis 13. That could have soured their relationship if they had been lesser men. But they peaceably parted and Lot moved to the infamous city of Sodom. The next thing we read is that war broke out and Lot was taken prisoner (Gen. 14). It seems at first that this is just a story of a bad end to an unwise decision. But because of this war Abraham rescued his nephew and met one of the key figures in the Bible—Melchizedek. Imagine the book of Hebrews without Mechizedek. And all this started with an argument!
The story of Jacob and Esau is filled with strife. The moment they entered this world there was a sign of conflict to come when Jacob grabbed Esau’s heel. When Jacob later took advantage of his brother the second time by deceiving his father Isaac, Esau vowed to kill him. But the Bible says we reap what we sow, and Jacob met his match when he encountered his father-in-law Laban. Then there was the jealousy of his sons toward their brother Joseph and the awful crime they committed against him. But Joseph himself saw the hand of God in all this confusion. He told his brothers years later, “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive” (Gen. 50:20).
It is easy to get discouraged if we look at a bad situation without faith in the hand of God. It may seem that any good outcome is impossible. But the storms of life like marriage troubles, church divisions, or the shooting of a President are not the end of the world. It will always be true that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
Kerry Duke
West End church of Christ
Livingston, TN